This invention is concerned in general with the sector covering machines with needles and sinkers for processing knit fabrics and refers in particular to a method and the means for producing knit fabric of xe2x80x9cplatedxe2x80x9d type, patterned, on circular knitting and hosiery machines.
In the normal production of plated knit on said circular machines, two different yarns are normally used for gauge and/or type and/or colour, fed to the needles, arranged and processed to provide one yarn for the internal or reverse side, and the other yarn for the external or face side of a resultant knit fabric, with in particular the so-called xe2x80x9cplatedxe2x80x9d effect.
Also noteworthy is the production of a patterned knit, also in terry fabric, with the introduction of at least two different yarns, processed so as to be presented on the internal side and the external side of the knit fabric alternately. This way of producing knit using well-known processing methods however, involves cutting the strands when their reciprocal arrangement is reversed, with the disadvantage of having thread ends protruding from the fabric, generally on its reverse side.
One object of this invention is to propose a method for knit processing to make a knit of the xe2x80x9cplatedxe2x80x9d type, patterned, without cutting the feeder strands, thereby avoiding the disadvantage mentioned above.
Another object of the invention is to provide the knit processing conditions for production, on circular knitting and hosiery machines, of patterned plated knit fabric manufactures which do not have cut strands and which are therefore finer and more attractive in effect and appearance.
These objects are achieved, according to the invention, by a method of producing plated knit fabric on a circular machine equipped with needles and sinkers, a method which involves the use of a first strand and a second strand which are different, at least in colour, for feeding to the needles through the sinkers and the positioning of the strands by means of a programmed longitudinal movement of the sinkers in such a way as to arrange selectively one or other of the two strands on the reverse side and on the face side of the resultant knit fabric, without cutting the strands, thereby forming patterns, due to the different colouring of the zones of the knit fabric in which there is, on the face side or in view, one or other of the strands.
The method according to the invention applies with similar results in the production of both smooth or satin-finish knit fabric and terry fabric solely by changing the configuration of the sinkers for processing terry fabric and suitably operating the sinker operating cams.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated.